For those who are unfamiliar with the growing self-published/indie novel world, John Locke is the undisputed king. He's sold almost 2 million books at $0.99 a pop. He has many, loyal fans. Not bad for doing it on his own. That has to be admired.

Lethal People is the first book that Locke published in his Donovan Creed series. Creed is best described as an independent contractor for the CIA who does his own assassin for hire work in his free time. On its face, that is a cool concept. My problem with the Creed character is not that his freelance work involves hits for the Mob, but rather that the hits involve innocent people for money. That's a tough sell for a main character, especially one you're supposed to like and is supposed to be a tough guy hero. If Creed is supposed to be an anti-hero, Locke fails to portray that in a standard way. (For the record, I'm a huge fan of anti-heros, from William Money to Hannibal Lecter to Michael Corleone). But killing bad guys for Uncle Sam, then killing innocent people at the request of Mob bosses is just strange. And there's nothing deep about him doing so - it's purely for money. Weird, to say the least.

Describing the plot of Lethal People is difficult to do. Creed is juggling multiple jobs and interests throughout the novel that sort of come together. He's trying to woo a woman while doing work for a mob boss and a new client who's a quadriplegic dwarf. Some of the action scenes are great, others will make you say "WTF?" The dialogue is pretty solid and is probably Locke's strongest suit.

This particular book moves fast - I read it in a flight and a half from the East Coast to Vegas. The price is good at $0.99. But as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Locke markets his books as a challenge to established authors to justify that their books are 10 times better than his (based on cost). For a quick, action packed read, Lethal People is worth $0.99. It doesn't compare to a Flynn, Ghrissam, Crichton or Thor novel - and not even close. There are even other much better self-published books out there if you're looking to dabble in the indie novel world (a few that I've read recently and will post on shortly). Supposedly Locke's later novels are more polished and better reads. That may be, but unless the Creed character is modified, I'm not sure these novels are for me.

I'd be curious to hear if any other members here have read a Donovan Creed novel and what your thoughts are.

Try googling 'free online novels'. There are a bunch out there, that are really free, and not stealing from the author. Cory Doctorow and Baen come to mind, if you like sci-fi. And they are good writers, unlike some newbie trying to pump his book on FR.

I’ve read all 13 of Locke’s books and love them. Locke had 9 books in the Creed series, a 3 book cowboy series and has just started a new character. As it turns out they are all related in some fashion even though there are characters hundreds of years apart. Creed has a crisis in the second book, mellows out and basically a force for good.

You are right dialog is great. Locke doesn’t spend time to describe scenery and gets to the meat of the book. They are fast paced, funny, and there is a long term story going on between all his books.

Self pub books are primarily electronic though some choose to publish paperback books via amazon. smashwords.com is a website dedicated to self pub books. Also check out kindleboards.com. Amazon is a good source as well, though they don't necessarily distinguish between self pub and traditional books.

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